Outgoing Denver City Councilwoman Judy Montero, standing, is honored by President Chris Herndon, seated to the left of her, on July 13. (Jon Murray, The Denver Post)

The seven outgoing Denver City Council members — the largest turnover since 2003 — took part in their final meeting Monday night. It was a meeting marked by tributes and farewell speeches peppered with humor, tears, and reflections on the tactics of citizen activists and the role of council members.

Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown. (Post file)

Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman honored Charlie Brown by noting his “No whining” mantra and his penchant for the pithy quote. “You are the master of the sound bite,” Susman said. “I hope that you will start giving lessons (and) do some tutoring. I don’t know how you do it.”

Brown didn’t disappoint, saying he liked being called the “cowboy councilman.” He added, “I’ve learned that you better be cowboy tough to do this job.”

He also had council staff play a 2003 clip from “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Correspondent Samantha Bee featured Brown as a foil to a citizen activist who was pressing for a “stress reduction” ballot measure that might have required the playing of soothing music in city offices. (Watch it below.)

The next morning, Mayor Michael Hancock, during Tuesday’s Mayor-Council meeting, gave each outgoing member a framed proclamation in honor of their service, along with folded city flags, spokeswoman Amber Miller said.

Here are several moments from the outgoing members’ farewells Monday night, starting with the shortest serving, Susan Shepherd, who was defeated May 5 by challenger Rafael Espinoza in northwest Denver. New council members will take office next Monday as the mayor begins his second term.

Denver City Council District 7 candidate Aaron Greco is reflected on a surface nearby as opponent Jolon Clark speaks at the start of a debate on May 13 at the Denver Channel 8 TV studio. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

But his opponent, Jolon Clark, also has built a solid list of backers. His list might lack the star power that Greco has drawn, but a political analyst says it arguably may help him more in the June 2 runoff in the south Denver district. (With the caveat, of course, that endorsements might not matter as much as candidates hope they do.)

Clark led the nine-candidate field in the first round of the election on May 5 with 26 percent of the vote; Greco polled 16 percent.

Since then, Clark has locked up endorsements from six of the seven losing candidates, including from former state Rep. Anne McGihon, who came in third behind Greco by 28 votes. The seventh former candidate, Luchia Brown, has told Clark and Greco that she isn’t issuing an endorsement. Clark’s campaign also says outgoing Councilman Chris Nevitt is backing him, though he’s been a polarizing figure for some neighborhood activists.

“Of those two hands of cards, I’d rather be playing Jolon’s cards,” said Eric Sondermann, a Denver-based political analyst who’s been watching the runoff races.

A new video from Denver City Council candidate Halisi Vinson resembles a movie trailer for a James Bond film, complete with a credits list at the end.

Vinson, Kendra Black and Carolina Klein are vying for the chance to succeed Peggy Lehmann, who is term limited, in District 4 in southwest Denver. The video opens with Vinson adopting Black’s trademark stance, arms folded in a pink jacket.

Denver City Council candidate Halisi Vinson teamed up with a member of the musical group Earth, Wind and Fire to produce a musical video that features the song “Denver” and supporters getting their groove on.

(No one warned me I would see Vinson supporter Rep. Paul Rosenthal dancing. I’m still a little numb.)

In other news in Denver Council District 4, Vinson picked up the endorsement from the Colorado Latino Forum. Earlier, outgoing Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann endorsed candidate Kendra Black. Also running in District 4 is Carolina Klein.

Denver City Council candidate Halisi Vinson spoke about helping those in need as an inspiration for running in the May election during a fundraiser on December 27, 2014. A supporter hosted Vinson’s event at her southeast Denver home. (Jon Murray, The Denver Post)

The title of Denver City Council candidate Halisi Vinson’s fundraiser — “Tired of Turkey Southern Stew Celebration” — said plenty about the donor fatigue faced by 2015 hopefuls as the first key fundraising deadline approaches Wednesday.

Not only are people tired from the crush of holiday events in recent weeks, many political donors in Denver are feeling tapped out from the slew of hot races that dominated Colorado’s recent election, ending only last month.

So Vinson tried to entice supporters to show up — and open up their checkbooks — with the lure of homemade gumbo, made with her family’s fourth-generation recipe. She also served other southern stews.

It worked. Supporter Jan Tyler’s home in southeast Denver was packed for a couple hours Saturday afternoon for an event that solicited $50 from guests for Vinson’s campaign and $100 to $300 each from hosts and other supporters.

Vinson, a marketing consultant and secretary of the Democratic Party of Denver, is among at least 39 candidates who have filed initial paperwork to run for the council in the May 5 election. Six of the 13 council seats won’t have incumbents seeking re-election, promising the highest turnover in more than a decade.

Denver City Council members in a committee meeting on Wednesday morning heard public comment, queried Denver Public Schools officials and pieced through information about a controversial land swap in southeast Denver before sending the matter forward for a vote of the entire council.

The committee voted 4-1 with one member abstaining to move the bill to the full council, which is expected to cast a final vote on the matter on April 1 after a one-hour public hearing. The bill would approve the swap, giving DPS 11.5 acres of city-owned property to build a school in exchange for a 46,000-square-foot downtown school building that would become a domestic violence resource center.

The crux of the controversy is over the 11.5 acres of undeveloped city land north of Cherry Creek Reservoir. For six years the parcel had been designated a natural area, part of the Cherry Creek Trail. Formally called the Hampden Heights Open Space but also known as Hentzell Park, the piece of land is beloved by parks advocates who cried foul when Denver’s Parks and Recreation Manager Lauri Dannemmiller in January removed the designation in preparation of the swap.

“This is a bad decision and bad policy,” said Dave Felice, an opponent to the swap who spoke at the committee meeting. “This is administrative theft of public property. The city cannot give up rare and irreplaceable natural areas.”Read more…

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Denver's city council is looking at changing the boundaries of council member's districts.

Denver’s City Council over the next year will be wrestling with redrawing the boundaries for council members districts based on the population changes over the past decade that saw northwest Denver shrink and far northeast Denver almost double in size.

Some of these changes could re-district current council members out of their current seats, such as newly elected councilman Christopher Herndon who lives in Stapleton and represents the growing District 11.

The boundaries of his district are likely to move farther northeast and could possibly move away from his Stapleton home by the 2015 election. Council members have one year until election to establish a permanent residence inside the new boundaries.

The race to fill the vacancy in the Denver City Council seat representing northwest Denver will have 10 candidates, the elections division of the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s office announced today.

Much of the chatter centers on the decision by state Rep. Jerry Frangas, a Democrat, to enter the race at the last moment. His entry sets up a battle that also includes another northwest legislative power, State Sen. Paula Sandoval, another Democrat who has been planning a council run for months. Previously Frangas had announced intentions to run for Sandoval’s Senate seat, which she is vacating.

“I’ve made up my mind,” Frangas said in an interview today. “I’m in the council race.”

The race to fill the vacant city council seat representing northwest Denver has drawn 11 candidates, including two term-limited state legislators.

All 11 people submitted petition paperwork on Tuesday to get on the ballot for the special May 4, mail-ballot election. They now await certification by the elections division of the office of the Denver Clerk and Recorder.

Both State Sen. Paula Sandoval and State Rep. Jerry Frangas submitted petitions to be in the race. The two are term-limited. Sandoval declared her intention to run for the council seat about a month ago, but Frangas is a late entrant. Earlier, Frangas had announced plans to run for the senate seat currently held by Sandoval.

Jon Lehmann, the son of Denver Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann, just confirmed that he indeed does plan to run for the council seat representing northwest Denver.

Lehmann is an environmental lawyer with Lindquist & Vennum. He said he soon will put out an official announcement.

The District 1 council seat recently became vacant with the decision of Councilman Rick Garcia to leave to take a job as regional director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A special all-mail ballot election will be held May 4th, with the top vote getter automatically winning the seat.

The open council seat has attracted several other candidates, who are mentioned in a post below this one. His law firm’s Web site lists his credentials, which include representing developers in several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers enforcement cases involving disputes over the Clean Water Act jurisdiction.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.